Friday, May 2, 2014

Slumgullion

The Bangles are coming back to Chicago. Photo from The Bangles Facebook page.

CIMMfest No. 6 continues through this weekend. I wasn’t able to do a preview yet for Saturday and Sunday, so be sure to go to the CIMMfest website to check out all the movies and music this increasingly popular festival has to offer.

As I post this, the critically acclaimed power pop band Archie Powell and The Exports are blasting out (and I do mean blasting) songs from their new hard-edged album Back In Black at their Release Show tonight, May 2nd at Subterranean. In my recent review of Back In Black here on BHT, I noted that the band, “uses harder arrangements and a fair amount of primal screaming to focus on the devastating effects of unrequited love,” and “Powell sometimes swaps his usually clever lyrics for cryptic images of insanity or self-destruction.” I wasn’t entirely sold on the new approach, but there are a number of high energy, good songs on Back In Black that are likely to be even more impressive live.

The Palatine Concert Band doesn’t sound like AC/DC or any other rock group, but it is a talented collection of musicians that performs classical, big band, marches, and soundtrack medleys, and it’s doing a free concert at Cutting Hall at 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. Palatine Concert Band will also be performing at the Fred P. Hall Amphitheater on June 11th, July 19th, and July 30th, as part of Palatine’s Sounds Of Summer outdoor concert series.

Hard-edged power pop trio The Viaducts, fresh from their performance at International Pop Overthrow - Chicago, have a gig at Penny Road Pub in Barrington tomorrow night, May 3rd.

The Bangles are performing tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 PM at SunFest in downtown West Palm Beach. And according to their website, they have tour dates coming up at the LA Pride festival in West Hollywood Park on June 8th (Jennifer Hudson and Azalea Banks will also be appearing) as well as The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano; Slims in San Francisco; Cannery Casino in Las Vegas; and City Winery in Napa and Chicago. The Tour page on The Bangles website was malfunctioning when I tried to get further information, but hopefully it will be fixed soon.

Meanwhile, The Three O’Clock—members of The Paisley Underground with The Bangles—have a gig with The Brian Jones Town Massacre on May 10th at The Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles.

Whitewolfsonicprincess, led by Carla Hayden and James Moeller, will be part of a triple bill tomorrow night, May 3rd at Jerry’s Sandwiches in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood. The other acts are The Dark Room Men (Pat Über-Critic McDonald and Nick Allen) and Christopher Rock. The music starts at 10:00 PM.

My interview with Colin Blunstone from The Zombies is the print version of the May issue of the Illinois Entertainer. I’m told it will be online too, perhaps closer to his May 15th solo show at City Winery in Chicago.

According to the English website Cultbox, former Doctor Who star Matt Smith has signed on for a major role in all three parts of a new Terminator trilogy.

You’ll feel a whole lot better while they’re playing. Eric Chial from Penthouse Sweets and Bon Mots will be joining Phil Angotti in a tribute to The Byrds at 27 Live in Evanston on May 17th.

Jonathan Rundman has a new CD called Look Up coming out this Summer, which he notes is his first release of all new material in 10 years. It will include some of his favorite songs by Partheon Huxley, Daniel Levitin, and Brent Bourgeois Music.

CAKE, The Chicago Alternative Comic Expo will be held at Center on Halsted on May 31st and June 1st. Admission is free, and special guests will include Anya Davidson, Edie Fake, and Tony Millionaire. Organizers promise, “a weekend celebration and marketplace of independent comics.

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About This Blog

Broken Hearted Toy is an eclectic celebration of creativity, with over 2,000 posts since 2009.

It's based in Chicago but covers power pop, garage, cutting-edge, and 1960s rock from around the globe; along with occasional bits on art; literature; and theatre.

Top of the hill is a nice place to be at. - - - "Elevated Observations" by The Hollies.

Check out some of my previoius creative endeavors.

Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff was a weekly Internet show created by and starring Jeff Kelley. It mostly consisted of comedy bits and obscure 1960s garage rock set to vintage TV and film clips but also spotlighted entertainment events around Illinois.

My wife Pam and I created a handful of series (each episode was about two minutes long) that were shown on Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. They included Manchester Gallery (see description below); Old Days, which I hosted in the persona of a cranky old man named Fritz Willoughby; Roving Reporter, where I played the clueless title character; What's With Terry?, a performance arts program; and Hanging With The Hollies, a takeoff on Breakfast With The Beatles.

I've also worked with Kelley and Willy Deal on comedy clips, and with Kelley and David Metzger on films for the annual Nightmare on Chicago Street Halloween festival in Elgin.

I'm particularly proud of this 21-episode comedy series Pam and I created for Sunday Morning Coffee With Jeff. Each installment was a few minutes long, and featured me portraying Terrence, the curator of a pop culture museum.

I was a staff writer for this Chicago-based magazine from 1987 to 2015. The Illinois Entertainer has been covering rock music for over 40 years, and can be found in stores and entertainment venues, as well as in an online edition.

Chicago Art Machine was a web-based publishing company run by Editor-in-Chief, Kathryn Born, and Managing Editor, Robin Dluzen, that included Chicago Art Magazine, Chicago DIY Film,Chicago Performance And Trailers, and TINC. Most of my submissions appeared in Chicago DIY Film and Chicago Performance And Trailers, although I contributed to all the online Chicago Art Machine publications.

I was a writer and performer with this local comedy group from 1989 to 2009. Famous In The Future continues to perform in the Chicago area, and appeared at every one of the Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sinstheatre festivals that were held at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre. Since the closing of the Mary-Arrchie Theatre a few years ago, Famous In The Future has carried on the tradition by presenting Yippie Fest each year in August.

I'm an active member of SCBWI, (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and have written two Middle Grade fantasy novels. I've just finished a YA/paranormal novel, and also wrote a suspense/satiric novel that takes place amidst Chicago's alternative music scene in the mid-1980s.

Broken Hearted Toy

The blog title comes from the line, "I'm the brokenhearted toy you play with" in the song "I Can't Let Go" by The Hollies. One of the great original British Invasion bands, The Hollies continue to have an immense influence on power pop bands to this day, and have finally been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Here is a video of "I Can't Let Go" being performed in 1966.